Police personnel detain an activist during a protest by teachers and students of various organisations against the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Testing Agency (NTA) on Teachers' Day, in New Delhi, Thursday
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Around 30 teachers were detained by the police from Central Delhi's Mandi House area as they gathered there to take part in the unity march against several issues including NEP 2020, paper leak, and scuttling of reservations in educational institutes.
On the occasion of Teacher's Day, associations of different central and state universities had called for a joint students and teachers unity march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar.
According to a senior police officer, the teachers were detained because they tried to move towards the Embassy area.
"The teachers were allowed to hold the protest but when they tried to move towards the Embassy area, the police were forced to detain them. The protestors at Jantar Mantar were allowed to stage the protest," the officer said.
The protesting teachers under the banner Federation of Central University Teachers Associations (FEDCUTA), alleged they were forcibly detained by the police as soon as they gathered at the site to prevent them from undertaking their proposed march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar.
FEDCUTA president Moushumi Basu alleged, "The police said they would drop us at Jantar Mantar but we were taken to Kapashera Police Station near the Gurugram border." Among those detained were Basu and former presidents Nandita Narain, D.K. Lobiyal and Rajib Ray, the teachers association said in a statement.
"On the day that the nation observes as Teachers' Day, senior teachers and students were forcibly detained by the police in order to prevent the March. The action of the Delhi Police today...is a shocking demonstration of the continuing assault on Indian democracy and the utter contempt with which state views education, learning and the teaching community," the statement read.
Meanwhile, student groups from different universities including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ambedkar University, and Delhi University gathered at Jantar Mantar to continue the protest.
Carrying placards and posters, the students raised slogans against the police action and several other issues including New Education Policy 2020, paper leak, and scuttling of reservations in educational institutes.